T
he expanding cabinet of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was further reinforced on 15th august after the reappointment of five special assistants who also served under former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The five men inducted into the cabinet on Tuesday are Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Mussadik Malik, Asif Kirmani, Miftah Ismail and Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed.
Following the latest appointments, the total strength of the federal cabinet has reached 58, despite the fact that under the 18th amendment, the maximum size of the cabinet should be 11pc of the total number of seats in the National Assembly (342) and Senate (104), which comes to 49.
According to Article 91 of the Constitution, the prime minister can appoint up to five advisers, but the Constitution is silent on the number of special assistants allowed
The size of PM Abbasi’s cabinet is larger than Nawaz Sharif’s, which had three dozen members. But this is still not even the largest cabinet in recent history — former prime minister Shaukat Aziz’s cabinet had over 70 members, while ex-PM Yousuf Raza Gillani worked with an over 60-man cabinet.
Two days ago, the prime minister appointed six advisers: Sartaj Aziz (as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission with the status of a federal minister), Amir Muqam, Irfan Siddiqui, Nasir Janjua (as national security adviser), Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan and Jam Mashooq.